Space Cops - Tatort Demeter City

Space Precinct I thought looked promising, it was an interesting little yarn with some interesting concepts and I liked the characters very much.

There were episodes with some pretty engaging plotlines though there were a few low points but this doesn't overshadow my opinion of the series which is a police series in outer space. There was a fair amount of chemistry which is clear in the cast. It was a series that had potential I was annoyed at its cancellation.

This was one of Gerry Anderson's promising works and I liked his work particuarly Captain Scarlett.

Okay, so Gerry Anderson is a genius, let's get that out of the way first. Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray, even Terrahawks were all in a league of their own. Anderson's patented "Supermarionation" technique was, for its time, highly advanced. The problem started when he branched out into the live action stuff, like Space 1999 and UFO. It just didn't work for me. Space Precinct came along when I was about 16, 17 years old and I loved it from the start. It didn't initially register that it was a Gerry Anderson product, I thought it was so great. It certainly passed forty-five minutes on a Wednesday evening (the slot previously belonging to Star Trek: The Next Generation) and I thought it worked well at the time. When the series was released on DVD I decided to buy it to remind myself of how good it was...oh dear, not quite what I remembered. The real snag with the series is that the ideas and the finished article don't seem to have gelled. There are some great ideas (the co-operation between the three different species represented by the heroes does not always extend to the lower levels of Demeter City, for example) in the series, but it's hampered by the fact that the producers didn't seem to know whether they were making something for pre-teens or young adults. For instance, in one episode the cops have to hunt for this centuries old creature with a penchant for killing nubile young dancing girls and which can "hide" in the bodies of living beings, while at the same time you have a sub-plot concerning two other officers discovering an alien orang-utan in a rubbish skip with predictably humorous and slapstick results. This completely destroys any serious credibility the main story had as these two buffoons lark about "Every Which Way But Loose"-style with this ET-monkey while their colleagues face death at the hands of an ethereal and downright scary adversary. A clearer mission statement would probably have made this show run for longer than two seasons, especially if it had been darker and grittier. That said, not a bad show in all. The execution of good ideas just wasn't up to scratch. Sorry, Gerry...not your best work.

I caught this show by accident one Saturday night while overshooting SNL (it had no advertising I ever saw). It was funny. From the silliness of the bug-eyed alien gangster running for political office to the balls-to-the-wall action of the time travel episode, I just enjoyed watching.

The special effects hadn't changed much since "UFO" and "Space: 1999" (same producer for all 3 series), and some of the actors couldn't handle light comedy or romantic tension, but Ted Shackelford, Nancy Paul and a few others made this an enjoyable show, doing for police in the future what "Baywatch" did for lifeguards in the present.

There were several American actors in this British production because the United States was the country of first publication.

I just cannot understand why there are people who say 'Space Precinct' isn't worth watching, as it is a very good SF-series!

Yes, of course the aliens look a bit ridiculous, but that's actually part of the series' charm. Along with good stories, very obvious chemistry between Rob Youngblood (Officer Jack Haldane) and Simone Bendix (Officer Jane Castle) ànd nice sfx, this is a SF-series worth watching.

It's a shame, though, that only one season was made.

By the time I found out about his show, it was very hard to find. It would be broadcast somewhere in the wee hours of the night (around 2 to 5 am). I would check the TV Guide, set my alarm, and go to bed hoping some infomercial wouldn't bump it. Was this a great series? No. What it finely scripted? No. I could answer "No" to a lot more questions... but... I loved this show!! It was goofy & corny, but there was a charm about it, a "heart" that what some might call "better" shows lacked. The aliens and sets were fun and it even had a family in it! And the cherry on top of this sci-fi-sundae; there were all of those great Gerry Anderson models... COOL!!! It was a great way to spend a middle-of-the-night-half-hour! Sci-Fi Channel: GET IT!!!! (please?)